Wizard
Wizards or witches, 'or '''Type-II '''beings on the supernatural classification scale, are individuals capable of performing true magic, which is defined as the ability to manipulate matter, the laws of physics and chemistry and other constants of science, to a degree that is theoretically impossible. All witches and wizards rely on the use of Red Matter via channeling devices to act as an activation catalyst in order to tap into their powers; attempting to utilize magic without it is impossible. Wizards only make up a small percentage of the Human population, approximately 1.1 percent of all humans worldwide as of 2029 have true magical abilities. Human wizarding culture is commonly referred to as the Wizarding world. Wizards are also present in Elf, Dwarf, and Anthro populations and all have a considerably higher percentage of individuals capable of magic, but these races have an extremely low population as of 2029 compared to humans, whose sheer numbers mean that the majority of the magical community is human. History The first known Human wizards were documented in texts dating back to the 11th century, though there is speculation by many historical scholars that there may have been wizards existing even before then. Due to Human-centric historical records and a dearth of information regarding the history of other humanoid species, it is not known when other species such as Elves and Dwarves started to use magic. Anthro-feralis did not begin using magic until after it was introduced to Australia by the British Empire. Middle Ages Wizards appeared in appreciable numbers during the latter half of the 11th century, as attributed to by ancient manuscripts and documents making reference to supernatural beings. During the early stages of their existence they were not entirely separate from non-magical communities, and though incredibly rare, most known wizards were for a time important figures within their villages and kingdoms. Religious persecution however began to manifest shortly after the first few wizards appeared, with clergy denouncing magical abilities as 'satanic' and unnatural. The consequence of practicing magic became severe, punishable by death as it was considered heresy against the Church. During the Crusades they were heavily targeted for destruction by religious institutions such as the Roman Catholic Church and the Knights Illuminor, and were hunted for practicing magic, which was deemed as unholy and satanic. Wizards began to band together when they discovered each others' abilities, and often maintained organized underground communities in order escape the wrath of the religious institutions hunting them. * They often met during the night time, where most were asleep and there was a lower risk of being caught. * Wizards kept any and all magical flora and fauna they owned hidden, and practiced far away from prying eyes. * There were exceptions to this general rule, as some kingdoms had openly-practicing wizards as members of their court. Many times however their magic was attributed to the gift of God and their state of being blessed. Many clergymen were actually wizards themselves, hypocritically denouncing other wizards as satanic while continuing to practice magic themselves under the pretense of holy powers. Despite these measures there was some level of general awareness on the part of the average person, through rumors, the occasional breach of secrecy, and the constant rhetoric from religious authorities regarding the evils of witchcraft caused bursts of panic every so often. During the reign of the wizard Vlad the Impaler, the vampire subspecies of human came into existence. His vicious and cruel rule saw the brutal and inhumane treatment of both his enemies and subjects. Vampires were created using Areum, transforming humans into deranged monsters that needed blood to survive, which they could only obtain by attacking animals and Vlad's enemies. Vampires went extinct shortly their creator's death, due to their inability to reproduce and the inability to replicate Vlad's methods, which relieved many. Vlad the Impaler and the legends of vampires only served to heighten distrust against wizards, despite the majority of wizarding communities at the time being horrified themselves and condemning the crazed ruler. This contributed to attitudes that would eventually help form the Spanish Inquisitions at the end of the 15th century. Age of Sail Several excursions by wizarding communities were undertaken during the 1500s, with expeditions traveling to northern Europe in an attempt to learn and study magic by observing the humanoid Elf and Dwarf species living in the mountainous, isolated regions, which were currently unknown to most non-magical humans. As wizarding communities across the world became more aware of each other and, ever fearful of non-magical governments persecuting them, largely went into hiding. This was less true in regards to less developed nations, or particularly countries that did not have a strong government or one with overly hostile attitude towards magic. During this time, an unnamed mage in Europe broke one of the most sacred rules in the wizarding community. Biomancy was to be limited to plants and animals 'beneath' humanoids; the manipulation of human flesh was considered to be a grave taboo punishable by death. The wizard was exiled and fled to Australia, but left behind a legacy in the form of [[Anthro-feralis|''Anthro feralis]]. Scientific Revolution Many wizards were part of the scientific revolution. The advent of the scientific method and changing attitudes towards observation of the world around them caused many wizards to look at magic in a different light, attempting to understand its processes and how they were able to perform it. An increased understanding of science only heightened the power of magic; educated wizards who correctly understood natural laws tended to be more deadly than their uneducated counterparts. Victor Frankenstein made history and significant advances in biomancy with his experiments of reanimating dead tissue. He is most famous for Frankenstein's Experiment, which resulted in a fully reanimated being that, while semi-functional, was regarded with particular emphasis on the word 'semi' due to his creature being somewhat mentally retarded. He was later killed by another one of his creations. ''(Non-canon information in need of revision begins here.)'' Industrial Revolution and Resurgence of Wizardkind * * * * Section in rewrite. * * * * * ''(Non-canon information in need of revision ends here.)''' 20th Century and World Wars When World War I broke out, many states of course were immediately interested in mobilizing their wizarding populations to fight on the behalf of their country. Britain in particular instituted a compulsory draft for its magical populace. The horrors and grindstone of warfare dispensed great misery upon wizards world wide, as the first conflict of that magnitude and scale. Many wizarding communities across the globe were decimated, though many as well survived nearly unscathed, such as the wizarding community within the United States, which had a better relationship with its parent government than most. The United States did not institute a specialized wizarding draft (both wizard and non-magical alike were drafted), and joined the war in its end stages only a year before its conclusion. This resulted in barely a scratch in the American wizarding population. Wizards and by extension magical technology were heavily used in World War II. The United States again did not institute a draft, but this was not needed; thousands of wizards, in a frenzy of patriotic fervor, volunteered to join the US Armed Forces and fight for their country. This was aided by the fact that the US, in comparison to a lot of other states, had treated its wizarding populace rather well. Other nations still implemented their drafts but with much greater reluctance; a notable case was the Soviet Union, which took measure to protect its wizards, valuing them as a precious strategic resources and protecting them behind their battle lines and using them domestically to manufacture non-magical but enhanced with magic war machines. Wizards played a central role in the Cold War, where they were sought after by both the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Development of magical military technology continued during this era, and magic was a key part of boosting the space race between these two superpowers. In the 1980s, the Type-III Awakening Incident brought forth a new type of being that proved themselves to be incredibly destructive and powerful. Called 'metahumans' in the US and 'parahumans' globally, these beings were capable of warping reality without Red Matter and without the scientific knowledge and specific intent that magic required. Many wizards developed an extreme distaste for these beings, and regarded them as dangerous 'barbarians' for simply abusing their powers but not understanding how they worked. Wizards supported their classification as Type-III, in order to distance themselves from them. Modern Day Wizards are commonplace and integrated heavily into modern society. Thanks to the integration of non-magic and magical societies, civilization has developed at an accelerated rate due to technology being enhanced by magic. Wizardry is a valued skillset in many industries, and magically-gifted individuals are in high demand. Wizards work in engineering, in manufacturing, and in police forces and military, where they are assigned to specialized divisions, and afforded specialized magi-tec equipment. Characteristics Manipulating magic Outwardly, wizards have no distinct difference in physical traits from non-wizards other than the ability to manipulate magic. It is believed that wizards have the ability to gather and focus mana, or magical energy, inherent in the subspace fabric of space-time in order to perform feats that defy scientific sense, using Areum (red matter) as a catalyst. * Wizards can manipulate the amount of magical energy conducted through their bodies to a degree, with more powerful wizards being able to channel larger, dangerous amounts of magic. In the same vein, some wizards are able to render themselves immune to the harmful effects of materials like fire or chemicals, provide that they understand how to render them inert and they have a source of Areum at hand. * An excess of magical energy flowing through a wizard's body may be fatal, even if the person in question is equipped with a staff. This was demonstrated during an attack on Union City when a wizard sacrificed himself by overloading his body and absorbing a parahuman terrorist. * The maximum radius of a wizard's area of effect is called the Red Line. Beyond this, their magic weakens considerably to a point where it may as well not be present at all. This is somewhat similar, but not entirely identical to a Distorted Perception Field. * Unlike Type-III individuals, wizards are not capable of the supernatural act of bending the laws of reality without the presence of Areum. Physiology The exact factors that determine the disposition to be able to manipulate Red Matter are unknown but based upon current research and understanding it is thought to be genetic. Approximately 1 in 100 humanoids and 1 in 97 Anthro-feralis possess magical abilities, though this does necessarily not mean they will embrace their powers or act on them. Magical beings typically are born from other magical beings, resulting in wizarding family lines such as the Thornwick family. Magical genes appear to be dominant. However this is not always the case as magical abilities can manifest suddenly in non-magical lines to create magical individuals, two examples being Charlie Lang and Camden Kolt. As they are able to use magic to heal themselves, wizards tend to live longer than non-magical people and their use of magic makes them resistant to diseases that would affect a non-magical person. They however can be killed with non-magical weapons such as a gun just as easily as a non-magical person can. Society and culture ''Read more: Wizarding world There are about 80 million wizards worldwide. Wizards, prior to the Resurgence, tended to cluster tightly together in magical communities hidden from the sight of non-magical society. Many of these settlements were isolated and had little contact with the majority of human civilization, constructing their own that was carefully hidden underneath the surface. Some wizards would live a double life and be able to interact and live life non-magically quite easily while others would be so entrenched in their magical lifestyle they refused to consider interacting with non-wizards. At the turn of the Industrial Revolution, magic became commonplace and new wizards beginning to practice magic often were eager and had little reverence for the severe rules and magical laws that had hidden wizardkind from non-magical society, and came in such massive numbers that wizards were forced out into the open when it was noticed by commoners that something supernatural was amiss. Wizards from here on would have to live in a rejoined world, though there was much resistance to the merging on both sides. Now no longer having to hide themselves and with the general populace knowing about magic, wizards swung heavily in the other direction, many trying to integrate into public society and give non-magical people the best representation of magic as they could. Most wizards in the modern age live freely along non-magical people and have extensive support structures and organizations in place for them, and now operate public organizations for the practice, study and celebration of magic. Despite magic being mostly accepted in the majority of states around the world, some wizarding communities remain untrusting of the new frontier of magic and non-magic stepping side by side together, and are xenophobic and have refused to intergrate, especially in Britain. An example of this is the Thornwick Family, an ancient wealthy wizarding family spanning back to the 15th century, which is firmly rooted in traditionalist, conservative wizarding culture, has an immense disdain for technology, non-magical people and Anthro-feralis, and prefers to restrict interaction with, let alone marriage, to other wizards. Legal status Because magic is mostly regulated in the modern world, there are differing laws in various countries regarding how wizards are dealt with. United States Wizards have generally had a surprisingly good relationship with the non-magical government of the United States of America after the Revelation of Wizardkind. Though the American Wizards High Council, the original American wizard government, was disbanded, its remnants quickly were absorbed and reformed by the United States into the US Department of Magical Affairs. The USDOMA is a very notable case in that it was unusually run as an organization for wizards, by wizards, with many former officials of the secret magic government that preceded it joining to take positions in the new federal agency. Wizards were not required to register with USDOMA if they did not actually practice magic and simply had the gene. Wizards are held in high regard and are employed by many American industries and technology sectors, and have enhanced non-magical production by making it more reliable, durable and powerful as well as producing hybrid magic-technology devices. This is caused the USA to emerge as one of the leading magical superpowers of the world. United Kingdom The British Ministry for Magic was created by the United Kingdom in 1873, eighteen years before its American counterpart. It was created by the order of Queen Victoria and British Parliament to keep magic in check within the British Commonwealth. Unlike its American counterpart it was notably more strict, and focused its objectives on integrating wizards into society, sometimes forcibly, and required all known magical individuals to registe and pledge loyalty to the Crown. Numerous laws were passed to restrict the types of magic that could be cast, and many wizards were ordered into the service of Her Majesty to advance the interests of the Commonwealth. In the late 20th to 21st centuries these laws have relaxed significantly and registration is still technically required for all wizards but if one is found to be magical but not having practiced magic, a slap on the wrist and perhaps a fine is the usual consequence. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Wizards People's Republic of China All Chinese wizards are required to register with the Communist Party and will be automatically drafted into the People's Liberation Army if demanded. After the Communist Revolution in the 1950s wizards were forbidden from building their own wands and were issued standardized state-manufactured wands to 'equalize' the wizarding population, but these wands were of often low quality and power. The restriction has been lifted after the Awakening Incident, allowing Chinese wizards to make custom personal wands and buy Red Matter, but other heavy restrictions remain. The government ministry overseeing magic in the People's Republic of China is the Chinese Ministry for Wizardry, or 中国巫师部 (''Zhōngguó wūshī bù '') Japan As part of its historical isolationism, no foreign wizards were allowed to enter the country during the Meiji modernization era up until Imperial Japan. Despite this hostile policy against wizards outside of Japan, Japanese wizards enjoyed relatively liberal policies and freedom in practicing magic, and magical innovation and experimentation was heavily encouraged during the Imperial Era under Hirohito, a technomancer wizard himself. Heavy profliferation of magic meant that during the mid-20th century, Japan was the foremost magical superpower, using their magi-tek to conquer large portions of East and Southeast Asia. After World War II, Imperial Japan was defeated and under influence and assistance from the United States, the country reconstructed and re-organized its government with a new constitution, which called for a new magical government department. In 1954 Japan created the Japan Ministry of Magic, or 日本魔法学会 (''Nihon mahō gakkai ''). This goverment was heavily based off the American USDOMA in terms of organization and policies, and foreign wizards were allowed to visit (but not immigrate or gain residence) starting in 1972. List of notable wizards Category:Sentient Category:Magic